The invention herein is drawn to improving the production of oil reserve recovery using communications with smart sensors, remote power delivery for smart sensor networks, reservoir imaging, monitoring and management at the oil well. An oil well is typically drilled hundreds or thousands of feet within various geological strata to reach a permeable formation containing an oil reservoir. Such permeable formations include subsurface or subterranean media through which a fluid (e.g. oil or water) may flow, including but not limited to soils, sands, shales, porous rocks and faults and channels within non-porous rocks. Various techniques are used to increase or concentrate the amount of fluid such as oil in the area of the reservoir, such area being commonly referred to as an enhanced pool.
During the initial stage of oil production, the forces of gravity and the naturally existing pressure in a reservoir cause a flow of oil to the production well. Thus, primary recovery refers to recovery of oil from a reservoir by means of the energy initially present in the reservoir at the time of discovery. Over a period of time, the natural pressure of a reservoir may decrease as oil is removed at the production well location. As the pressure differential throughout the reservoir and at the production well location decreases, the flow of oil to the well also decreases. Eventually, the flow of oil to the well will decrease to a point where the amount of oil available from the well no longer justifies the costs of production, which includes the costs of removing and transporting the oil. Many factors may contribute to diminishing flow, including the volume and pressure of the oil reservoir, the structure, permeability and ambient temperature of the formation. The viscosity of the oil, particularly the oil disposed away from the central portion of the production well, the composition of the crude oil, as well as other physical characteristics of the oil, play a significant role in decreased oil production.
As the amount of available oil decreases, it may be desirable to enhance oil recovery within an existing reservoir by external means, such as through injection of secondary energy sources such as steam or gas into the reservoir to enhance oil flow to the production well location. The effectiveness of the means used to recover the greater levels of available oil depends on knowledge of the properties and the parameters of various physical features and constituents of the particular reservoir. For example, generally little or timely information is known concerning the presence of hydrocarbons, water, location of oil/gas interfaces, or impurities such as corrosives or trace elements. When a type of hydrocarbon has been identified, generally little or timely information is known concerning pH, viscosities or fluid saturations. In addition to information on the constituents within a reservoir, it is useful to know, pressures, temperatures, stress and strain forces existing in zones of interest, permeability and porosity (pore size, pore throats, and pore geometries). Additional information useful to the recovery of oils and gas are spatial distributions of oil, water, and natural gas and locations where these constituents have been bypassed. Drilling is additionally aided when there is data on rock formation boundaries, rock layer morphology, reservoir compartments, natural fracture distributions, fault block geometries and artificial fracture geometries. Data concerning these features of wells lead to better understanding of the dynamic paths of reservoir fluids, determining how effective a particular method of extraction is working and what physical changes are occurring as the recovery process progresses.
The oil industry is researching the development of nano additives to increase oil productivity. Nano additives include interacting nanoscale structures, components, and devices. Functional nano systems are nano systems that process material, energy, or information. As nano additive systems are technologically advanced in the form of nano devices remotely rechargeable, energy sources will be required. Furthermore, remote sensing capabilities at the well site may serve to assist in the mapping of physical features such as where oil and water are migrating. Additionally, telemetry related to the acquisition of well data and data processing once the data has been obtained may be employed to analyze and report on the information useful to improving the production of gas and oil.